A storyteller from Zuiderwoude [1] personally experienced the following events. When he was a soldier, he had to keep watch with several other soldiers. As a pastime they played cards.

Suddenly, one of the soldiers said, "Shall I send the jack of clubs for a bottle of jenever?" [2]

Everyone laughed, because they thought it was a joke, but when he persevered and asked them all to contribute a dime, they decided to take the risk.

One, two, three, there, it happened! The jack of clubs disappeared, the soldier fell unconscious, he turned as white as a sheet, and he started sweating like a pig. After a few minutes, a bottle of jenever appeared on the table, with the jack of clubs around the neck. It can't be explained how this was possible.

Immediately the soldier regained consciousness. Nobody dared to take a drink from the bottle, but when the soldier drank the first glass with apparent delight, the others lost their fear and they emptied the bottle together.

The next day, one of the guards at the main gate told them that someone had delivered him such a blow that he almost passed out. However, when he looked around to see who had slapped him, he saw no one at all. When the soldiers went out to march that day, they came across an innkeeper who lived some fifteen minutes outside town.

He said to them, "You sure made a lot of noise last night, just to get me out of bed in the middle of the night for a bottle of jenever."

Everyone denied having done this, all the more so because the innkeeper mentioned that the bottle of jenever was not paid for. The innkeeper maintained that he was telling the truth, and he pointed out the soldier who sent out the jack of clubs as the one who came for the bottle.

My storyteller ended his tale by saying, "Certainly, that soldier must have been a sorcerer, whose ghost was able to leave his body. He never left the room, and no ordinary person could have made it to the inn and back in just a few minutes."